Vehicle rollovers now in the spotlight

Tire deaths probe could help bring rollover ratings

Associated Press

Published Tuesday, October 03, 2000

WASHINGTON -- The federal investigation that prompted the huge Firestone recall has focused attention on tire safety, and also helped clear the way for the first federal vehicle rollover ratings, which could be out by year's end.

Safety advocates hope the ratings eventually lead the government to require automakers to meet standards to limit rollovers. They point to federal statistics showing that while the national traffic fatality rate reached a record low last year, rollover deaths continued to climb, from about 9,500 in 1997 to 10,280 last year.

Particularly troubling, they say, is the rollover fatality rate among sport utility vehicles, which is three times greater than passenger cars and 50 percent higher than pickup trucks.

I think that the public, because of Firestone, is very aware of the vulnerability of these SUVs,'' said Joan Claybrook, the former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who now leads the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. They want rollover protection, and I think what will come out of this is a standard.''

Automakers have resisted such standards for years, arguing that more regulation is unnecessary because it is already in their best interest to design safe vehicles. They have opposed rollover ratings as unfair and misleading, saying driver error, environmental conditions and other factors play roles in rollover accidents.

But in this election year, as Congress and NHTSA investigate thousands of reported accidents linked to Firestone tires, there is pressure to adopt stricter auto safety standards. The tires are standard equipment on several Ford models, including Explorer, the world's best selling SUV. Most of the reported accidents involving the tires were Explorer rollovers.

Bills that would enhance penalties for people in the auto industry who withhold safety defect information have passed committees. Also, two weeks ago, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., withdrew an amendment to the transportation spending bill that had blocked NHTSA from releasing the rollover ratings.

NHTSA announced in May it would issue the ratings. But Shelby, R-Ala. and chairman of the Senate Transportation Subcommittee, proposed an amendment barring the agency from publishing the ratings until scientists reviewed them.

SUVs have a higher center of gravity and a narrower track width than most passenger cars, making them more prone to tip over when they hit a curb, soft shoulder, ditch, loose gravel or guard rail. Rollover ratings could hurt sales of the popular vehicles, which reached a record 3.1 million last year.

Shelby's state is home to a Mercedes-Benz plant that builds the M-series SUV and a Honda minivan plant that is under construction. Critics said his amendment was meant to give automakers more time to fight the ratings.